After opting out of the fall season due to squad limitations, the NC State women’s soccer team appeared in its first game in roughly a year, beating Old Dominion 2-0 thanks to a 68th minute goal from sophomore forward Jameese Joseph.
Despite a scoreless first half, the Wolfpack (1-0) dominated the match against the Monarchs (1-1), outshooting its opponent 10-5 and controlling the tempo of the play throughout the game.
“It is so nice to be out here,” said head coach Tim Santoro. “We wanted to win of course but we wanted to get to this day. The win and the shutout are a bonus, there was a lot of good and there was a lot of rust and things we need to fix but honestly just to play again, the result is the icing on the cake.”
Joseph started and ended the move for the Wolfpack’s first goal of 2021, cutting it back to sophomore forward Leyah Hall-Robinson at the top of the box. Hall-Robinson found junior forward Denae Antoine on the switch and the transfer put it back across goal to Joseph, who, after a fortunate bounce, was able to poke it in at the far post.
Antoine and Hall-Robinson were involved in the Pack’s second goal of the day as well, with Hall-Robinson cutting the ball back to Antoine for her first goal in an NC State jersey after transferring to the school from California.
“When I decided to come here, I knew I was going to be playing with great forwards,” Antoine said. “That was the main reason I decided to come here. In practice, we have been doing a great job of working off of each other and we were excited to showcase that on the field today.”
The Wolfpack debuted a new formation, running a 3-5-2 for the entire game. With the new formation came a host of first starts as freshman goalkeeper Maria Echezarreta, freshman forward Mia Vaughan, junior defender Margot Ridgeway, junior midfielder Sandra Geiselhart and Antoine were all named in the starting XI against the Monarchs.
“It was good, it was something we haven’t done before and something we’ve trained,” Santoro said. “We altered some things in the second half, we tried to get three up top and it got us a couple goals, but I was pleased to see them take some new ideas and the new approach, especially with so many new players and I thought they did, again, considering its been so long since they’ve been on the field together, I was pleased and it’s a good starting point.”
Making a strong debut for the Wolfpack was Echezarreta, facing five shots throughout the game and one shot on goal, thanks to a strong defensive line. Echezarreta was one of three players who was not able to return to Raleigh in the fall due to international travel restrictions.
“Maria has a lot of experience internationally before she got here, so we knew she was ready for this moment,” Santoro said. “Since she’s gotten here, she has trained really well, and she’s proven she deserved the opportunity today, and she gives us a lot of experience even though she’s a freshman. She brings a lot of experience and a good voice back there, she’s always talking, so we are excited to have her.”
Shortly before the second goal, Joseph was helped off the field, putting no weight on her left leg. After the game, Santoro said Joseph had been dealing with an ankle injury over the last week.
“She got fouled a lot,” Santoro said. “It was a little tweak. I don’t think it is going to be a long-term thing. We will know more tomorrow. I think the accumulation of fouls added up after a while… We will hopefully have her back out Wednesday, and if not, we will have her back next week.”
The Wolfpack won’t have to wait nearly as long for its next game, taking the field again on Feb. 13 to take on UNC-Wilmington at WakeMed Soccer Park. The game is set to kick off at 1 p.m.
Junior forward Denae Antoine (8) celebrates her goal against Old Dominion on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021 at Dail Soccer Field. The Wolfpack won the season-opener 2-0.
